October 20, 2024, is World Osteoporosis Day.
Because the outdated saying goes, sticks and stones might break your bones however neglecting your bone well being will damage you.
If it’s been awhile since you considered your bones, we get it. Bone well being is underrated. However it’s additionally actually vital. Let’s put it this manner: You may’t do a lot with no skeleton.
It’s particularly vital for ladies and folks assigned feminine at start to be proactive about bone well being as a result of osteoporosis, a illness that makes bones weak and brittle, impacts 10 million individuals within the U.S. and eight out of 10 of these are ladies.
The bodily penalties of osteoporosis may be life-changing. A easy stretch, bend — even a cough — can lead to a fracture or damaged bone when you have osteoporosis. Actually, about half of all ladies over age 50 will break a bone sooner or later due to the illness.
Past breaks, osteoporosis may have a big impression in your psychological well being.
Osteoporosis and melancholy
Along with bodily issues, osteoporosis has been linked to critical psychological well being points. Analysis exhibits individuals with osteoporosis are extra more likely to have melancholy in comparison with individuals who don’t have osteoporosis. In a single 2022 research of principally ladies, a majority of members with osteoporosis had melancholy (86.9%) in comparison with 15.4% of the group who didn’t have osteoporosis.
Deborah T. Gold, Ph.D., professor emerita in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke College Medical Middle, has studied the connection between osteoporosis and melancholy for years. “After I began doing the analysis, we discovered that individuals [with osteoporosis] who obtained a fracture had been restricted in what they may do. It made them really feel outdated — and it damage — and that led to melancholy,” Gold mentioned. “I do assume most often melancholy is a results of the illness.”
Gold recalled a time when a research participant began sobbing as she crammed out her osteoporosis questionnaire. “It simply suggests how strongly it will possibly have an effect on you,” she mentioned.
Despair and osteoporosis
Some researchers assume the connection between osteoporosis and melancholy can go each methods. As in, melancholy may also be a threat issue for osteoporosis.
For one, analysis exhibits melancholy can improve cortisol (the stress hormone) within the physique, which may result in bone loss.
Remedy for melancholy may have an effect on bone well being. Some antidepressants have been linked to a rise in bone loss and higher threat of fracture. One evaluation discovered serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had been related to a lower of bone mineral density. And an evaluation of 23 research discovered that melancholy was considerably related to bone loss and an elevated threat of fractures.
Gold famous that threat components comparable to smoking, sedentary way of life and poor food plan may contribute to each melancholy and osteoporosis.
Postmenopausal osteoporosis and melancholy
Though osteoporosis is a illness that may occur at any age, people who find themselves postmenopausal are at excessive threat.
Estrogen — and a scarcity of estrogen — has an impression in your bones as a result of estrogen performs an enormous position in sustaining bone construction. Throughout menopause, when estrogen ranges decline, your bones grow to be weaker. You’re most in danger for osteoporosis after menopause when estrogen ranges keep persistently low.
Fluctuating estrogen ranges that happen through the menopausal transition (perimenopause) additionally affect the mind. Along with temper modifications, analysis exhibits a decline in estrogen impacts serotonin ranges — the texture good hormones — which may result in melancholy.
Learn: In an Ageing America, Osteoporosis Is a Looming Public Well being Disaster >>
Prevention and osteoporosis self-care
The connection between melancholy and osteoporosis is just like the hen or the egg debate. Whereas analysis is ongoing, it’s a good suggestion to inform your healthcare supplier about your threat components for each situations — particularly in the event you’re going by way of menopause.
“[Osteoporosis and depression] are each illnesses, and so they each may be handled,” Gold mentioned. “I feel, nevertheless, that for individuals with out melancholy now, getting management over osteoporosis will assist them keep away from melancholy sooner or later as a result of osteoporosis makes you are feeling like you haven’t any management anymore. And that is the type of factor that may result in melancholy.”
One approach to preserve osteoporosis at bay is thru food plan and getting the correct amount of calcium and vitamin D. (Notice: In case you’re taking a calcium complement, take vitamin D together with it as a result of your physique wants vitamin D to soak up calcium.)
Weight-bearing train (low-impact aerobics, dancing, strolling, and so on.) can also be essential for wholesome bones and muscle power. “Some individuals hate it, however in the event you perceive how a lot it will possibly assist, you would possibly put money into it extra,” Gold mentioned. Per science, one evaluation discovered that train was an efficient manner to enhance bone mineral density in individuals with osteoporosis.
Along with a nutritious diet and train, self-care choices for osteoporosis can embrace:
- Quitting smoking
- Limiting alcohol
- Taking prescribed medicines for bone well being
- Safeguarding your own home to stop falls
- Sustaining an energetic social life
Watch: The best way to Keep away from Falls in Your Dwelling >>
Each osteoporosis and melancholy must be evaluated individually by totally different healthcare suppliers. Speak to your supplier about getting a bone density check (DEXA scan) to test your bones and tips on how to get screened for melancholy in the event you’ve seen modifications in your temper.
“You realize, like some other illness, it’s as much as the person to take accountability,” Gold mentioned. “And if ladies do not take accountability for themselves and their issues — no one else will.”
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